SAMOAN AFFAIRS.

Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 88, 14 April 1927, Page 6

SAMOAN AFFAIRS.

lii your issue of March -<> Mr. A. M«<arthr "a resident" <if Sauma. replies to the criticisms of the H\i. «.. K. L- Wcstbrookc. M.L.C. (Samoa), in the previous i--uc. I understand that Mr. MrOirthy is the Crown Solicitor and a deputy-judge of Wot cm Samoa, a member of the Samoan Public Service, who is apparently filling in his extended ]ca\c here with some propaganda in praise of an administratiou of which he i- a prominent member of tlie staff. That sort of practice in the Pub. lie Service i* not u-ual. and greatly discount* Mr. McCarthy's criticism- <if Mr. Wcstbrookc. Apart from tliis. Mr. McCarthy i» n«t verv effective in denying Mr. Wc-tbrookcV -ugje--tion that the Samoan Keparation Estates ar« now being run by "amateurs"' at a los-. Mr. McCarthy refer* to Messrs. Cobrroft. Forsell and Machani a- •'expert-.." l.ut i- seemingly innocent of the fact that Mr. < ol»eroft. after being "loaned"' to the Commonwealth <.ovemment to advi-e un the cx-licrman plantations i;i New Guinea, nuininl to Samoa to find n« position available for him in the Public Service, and is now a private planter holding a lea>e of .1 former German cocoa plantation. Mr. McCarthy also state- that Mr. Korsell "is well experienced in plantation work."' and is apparently unaware of Mr. Forsell"* tragic death some three year* ago. Mr. Machaui was formerly manager of the Yailele E-tatc, which showed a loss of .t'l.'i-Jl for the year ending March ."51. 1H2«». and ha- Iteeil promoted to charge of the Mulifanui K-tatc of -IrtOO acres. In his article, the Ron. Mr. Westl-rookc asks: "When- arc. the profits of the-e hu;ze estates i" With legal define--. Mr. Met. arthy transposes this to: "Mr. Westbrooke wants to know where are the hujre profits of the-c e-tate- *' Tlie transposition of the "huge" adjective from "estates'" to "profit--'' utterly distort-, Mr. Wostbrookc"s question from sense to nonsense. Space will not permit detailed reference to many other questionable assertions of Mr. McCarthy, but when he state* that "the thin? Xew Zealand is doing is the maintenance of the power of the chiefs."' he might, as Samoan Crown Prosecutor, tell your readers just what action his office i<»ok with repaid to the chiefs who ha\e supported the Samoan Welfare League in their effort- for furl her measures of self-government. What happened to the fix chiefs who were elected at a public meeting of over 000 Samoan residents as members of a, delegation to visit New Zealand with European representatives la.-t -January and present their gric\anccs to the New Zealand CouTniiicnl ! PERCY AXDRE\V.